December 13th-19th: Eastman Philharmonia, Die Schweigsame Frau & more

Last week Eastman Weekly promoted an Eastman Opera Theater milestone—the 1969 production of Francis Poulenc’s masterpiece Dialogues of the Carmelites, staged at Eastman just eleven years after the world premiere and eight years before the Met staging.  One year later, or fifty-one years ago this week, on December 17 and 18,  EOT scored yet another milestone with a production of Richard Strauss’ seldom performed Die Schweigsame Frau, the eleventh of Strauss’ sixteen operas, directed by Leonard Treash. Die Schweigsame Frau (The Silent Woman), is a comic opera in three acts with a libretto by Stefan Zweig (1881-1942) after the play Epicoene, or, The Silent Woman by Ben Jonson (1573?-1637). Previously, Mr. Treash had directed two other Strauss operas at Eastman, Arabella (1963) and Ariadne auf Naxos (1966). Later on, after Richard Pearlman’s appointment as dramatic director, EOT would stage Capriccio (1976) and a new production of Ariadne auf Naxos (1985).

Die Schweigsame Frau was composed in 1933-34 and was premiered in Dresden in June, 1935. The circumstances of the opera’s origins, and its performance history, have been described documented by Strauss’ biographers. All of Strauss’ previous operas, with the exception of Intermezzo, had been based on libretti by Hugo von Hofmannsthal (1874-1929); after Hofmannthal’s death, Strauss reached out to the renowned Austrian writer Stefan Zweig (1881-1942) for a libretto for a new opera. Zweig recounted in his autobiography that Strauss had specifically cited Ben Jonson’s play The Silent Woman.  By this time Zweig had successfully adapted Jonson’s play Volpone for the German stage, enhancing his own reputation while contributing to renewed attention to the long-dead playwright and contemporary of Shakespeare. The libretto that resulted, embodying Jonson’s social satire set in 1600s London, would come to represent the sole collaboration between Strauss and Zweig owing to circumstances beyond the control of either. The opera’s plot surrounds Lord Morosus, a war-damaged naval admiral who lives withdrawn from social contact and longing only for peace and quiet. His barber Pancreas Cutbeard, a daily visitor, suggests to him that he seek marriage with a younger, quiet woman.  Lord Morosus is drawn to the idea, and what eventually emerges, when boiled down to the barest essentials, is the time-honored dramatic material of an aged bachelor entering into a relationship with a younger woman, only then to suffer for his imprudence. The opera ends with Lord Morosus having made a narrow escape and finding his sought-after peace.

The premiere production was threatened when the leadership of the Nazi Party objected to the opera on grounds of its librettist, who was a Jew, but the favor that Strauss had initially enjoyed with the Third Reich was sufficient to win Hitler’s authorization of the premiere performance. Nevertheless, Nazi disapproval won out; the production was halted after only four performances, and the opera was banned altogether. Strauss thereupon resigned his position as president of the Reichsmusikkammer, the state music bureau that Nazi henchman Joseph Goebbels had founded as part of the Third Reich’s Chamber of Culture in promotion of music consistent with the Nazi viewpoint.  Die Schweigsame Frau was not performed again until after World War II, when it was revived in Dresden (1946) and was also staged in other German opera houses, including the Bayerische Staatsoper (1947). The British premiere was staged at the Royal Opera House in 1961. The American premiere was staged by New York City Opera (1958), and in later decades the opera was staged by Santa Fe Opera (1987, 1991). Research indicates that Eastman Opera Theater’s 1970 staging was only the second American production this opera has enjoyed. (Local press reporting promoted the production as such; wider promotion of the Eastman production was published in the pages of Opera News.)  Similar to the sparing performance history, this opera has to date only a limited discography; the commercial recordings number no more than one half-dozen. Significantly, both performances in the 1970 Eastman Opera Theater 1970 production were captured on analog tape and preserved in the Eastman Audio Archive.

With respect to the music of Die Schweigsame Frau, several published reviews point to a consensus that this opera does not represent Richard Strauss at the height of his inventiveness or creative power. It remains for music-lovers and opera-lovers to continue to put such a viewpoint to the test and to decide for themselves. As we continue to celebrate the Eastman Century, we at the Eastman School of Music are indebted to Eastman Opera Theater for affording us such opportunities. Eastman Opera Theater had once again demonstrated creativity and enterprise with a bold repertory choice.